Bitter Angels
by Kingofclubs8129
Summary: A crossover with the Villains Code series, which doesn't have a section on here. Claire Lutra loves her life, and her friends, being a supervillain is fantastic, but when two new supervillains their age show up through a door Penny made with her powers, she begins to wonder if they know what real supervillainy even is. Can the world handle the might of Fornax? Can Claire?
1. Knockin' on Heavens door

School was the worst. Ok, ok not an original sentiment I know, but still, clichés are clichés for a reason. Science was, admittedly the least annoying of my classes, as I got to spend it torment- I mean spending time with my two best friends, Ray Viles and Penny Akk. As amusing as harassing them about their budding relationship had started out, over time the blushing and the stammering had begun to make me wish for a sweetheart of my own.

I liked to tease and play, but honestly I did envy my mother her easy way with men. It was nearly impossible to find a boyfriend when you became asexually adorable to anyone nearby when your control slipped for even a second. Today, as per usual, my two villainous besties were talking animatedly about our next caper, while shooting hungry side glances at my antique luncbox.

I smirked to myself, I may not be the best fighter, or a super brain, but I knew for sure they would never kick me off the team if only because of my moms cooking. I've always suspected my mothers penchant for cooking was picked up as half boredom and half proof to herself that she was capable of being a suburban single mom after her illustrious career as a costumed criminal.

As the bell rang, we filed out into the hall headed for lunch "So, oh dark and devious mistress of wickedness" Ray bantered to Penny as we walked "is anything new cooking in that cauldron of megalomaniacal glee you call a brain?" Penny had been squirrely about talking about villain stuff during science, which always meant she had something cooking that she was trying to talk herself out of. I felt it was my duty as her personal bad influence to make sure whatever she had on the backburner came to fruition.

My mad scientist BFF glanced around nervously, fiddling with the machine on her wrist without actually activating it. I'd noticed Penny touching the machine a lot when she was uncertain, but I figured it was just because it was her first invention. Thinking about it now she did seem awfully attached to the little metal bug. Granted it was useful, but I resolved to keep an eye out for any strange behavior pertaining to the machine.

Lowering her voice to not quite a whisper, so as not to get everyone interested she said "I've had an inspiration coming on for a few days. I've been trying to push it back or focus and ruin it but this one is strong. My superpower wants me to make a door. I don't know to where but it wants me to make it bad. I'm worried about what it might be given how much it likes doing damage but I'm afraid if I push this off any longer I'm going to black out and make a dozen nukes or something along with the door. I don't get the feeling it's to somewhere crazy or inhospitable, just…fun. But I don't know what my superpower considers fun."

My brow creased in worry, I'd seen penny run into inspirations like this a few times and the longer she pushed them off the worse they got. I was worried the headaches would start and legitimately hurt her, plus I have to admit, this did sound like it might be interesting. I could see the same mix of trepidation and intrigue on Rays face and we locked eyes and nodded. I turned to my nervous friend "Penny, don't worry okay. You finish it and we'll figure out whats on the other side together. Nothing can stop the inscrutable machine!" I gave a reassuring grin and pulled her in close for hug.

My best friend was amazing, but she didn't see herself very clearly. At times like this she needed Ray and I to circle the wagons and remind her that she was Bad Penny, criminal mastermind, and not just Penny Akk, middle school student. Sometimes she needed to feel like she was leaning on us, even if the truth was very much the other way around.

Lunch was a light affair, my moms cooking once again nearly causing my two friends to emit almost indecent moans of joy, which I tried not to tease them about….too much. It was over relatively fast and the rest of the day went by in a school days usual paradoxical combination of agonizingly slow and faster than I expected, and after what somehow seemed like five minutes and five days at the same time we all convened in the lair. By the time I got there Ray was handing parts to Penny while she cackled maniacally and ranted about what fools some unspecified group of people were, and how they would regret underestimating her. You know, the usual.

It only took about an hour, during which she broke about four laws of physics, and about a dozen social conventions regarding language, enough to have even me blushing, which given my moms personality is saying something. Finally after the longest sixty minutes of my life, I saw Penny slump down in that way that meant her inspiration had ended. Ray appeared behind her in a flash, ready to catch or steady her, concern on his face as he stabilized his girlfriend.

All three of us turned to look at what she'd made. It was…a door. Brown wood, gold knob, white frame, the odd thing was that the frame wasn't set into a wall. It just…sat there, upright, unsupported in the middle of the room. We turned to look at Penny who just shrugged "I got nothing this time guys. I remember it's a door, don't know where it goes or how it works. We'll have to run a few tests on it, see if its radioactive or dangerous. Maybe the machine can take a look." Penny stopped and glanced thoughtfully at the door. I suspect she would've started talking again, had that not been when the knocking started.

 **Ok folks this is a new one. I love the please don't tell my parents series, honestly I'm excited to do this new one. I've decided that I'm doing a crossover with Villains Code. Sadly neither series is very popular on here but it's the story I want to write so im writing it. Hoping I'll get some people reading it as rollover from my other stories. Review if you do read it, I cant wait to hear what you think.**


	2. Strangers in the night

All three of us froze in place. Ray and Penny stood where he'd caught her, staring just as hard as I was at the door in the middle of the lab. The knock came again. Faster, like whatever was knocking was getting annoyed. Penny nodded to me, then made a quick gesture at Ray, it made sense to use my power to throw off whoever was on the other side, and Ray could cover me if they were dangerous.

I started walking slowly across the lab, and before I could even get my head straight I was there, Ray poised off to the side out of sight but close enough to yank me to safety if my whammy failed. I relaxed my grip on my powers, actively pulling what was already a pretty huge amount of strength I had to hold back all the time. Then, with trembling fingers, I reached out and opened the door.

The two guys on the other side just blinked at me. I blinked back. They were…teenagers. Cute ones. The shorter one had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was thin and pale and wearing an oversized black hoodie with holes in the sleeves he'd slid his thumbs through. The other boy was tall, with messy brown hair and green eyes, where the first boy was thin and muscled this boy just looked skinny. No meat or muscle on him. The green eyed boy was staring at me like I was a goddess, which was normal. The blue eyed boy just glared…which was not.

I'd run into things immune to my powers once or twice, but none of those things had been our age. Hell, even generic girl/Claudia was vulnerable to my whammy, and she was the toughest teenager anyone had ever heard of. Blue eyes raised a dark eyebrow "Well it took you long enough. We've been freezing our asses off out here. Well, Wade has, I've mostly been mocking him for it. But it's been getting old, and I think we can agree that's the real tragedy."

Green eyes, Wade I guess, tore his eyes away to gape at the other boy "Ivan! How can you be so rude to such an adorable girl? I mean, I'm sure she's a very sensitive person you shouldn't be so crass." He turned to give me an adoring apologetic look "I'm so sorry for my friend, no manners at all. I do hope he hasn't upset you."

Blue eyes, now known as Ivan gave his friend an absolutely dumbfounded look "Did you have a stroke? I mean sure, she's a hottie, but I've literally seen you BUILD prettier girls." He gave me a considering look "Well…. Maybe some that were close anyway, she looks even younger than us, and I've met lingerie models who don't have a body like that."

I gaped. Wade gaped. Penny gaped. Ray gaped, and managed a little overprotective brother glaring mixed in for good measure, which was sweet of him. Ivan looked sheepish. "What I'm the first person to mention that she's what, thirteen and built like a brick house? I'm not springing any surprises on you guys, I'm sure she's noticed she's more *ahem* developed than most girls her age." The glare intensified, and Ivan threw up his hands "Geeze fine, we had to end up in the puritan dimension, sorry if I offended. Didn't mean to make things awkward, I'm a supervillain not a pervert."

Wade seemed to partially shake off my power att hat, turning to glare at Ivan "Damn it Ivan, you cant just tell everyone we're supervillains! You're pretty much invincible but I need time and resources to be effective!" He seemed to realize he'd said too much as his eyes widened, shifting back to me, probably to explain himself before the green orbs softened in adoring stupidity.

Ivan look suspiciously back and forth between me and Wade before understanding dawned in his electric blue eyes. "Ohhhhh. You're a meta! I didn't even notice it. That's pretty subtle, I'm immune to most mental fuckery so I don't bother to watch for it, but Wade is usually pretty adept at defending against mental attacks. Comes from the super intelligence. " He reached over and flicked Wade in the head, and I thought I saw a brief red glow flash into existence on his fingernail right before it hit. Wade blinked and shook his head.

The now apparently unclouded apparently super intelligent boy gave a respectful smirk and a nod "Well played, miss. I was on guard against a mental attack, but your abilities seem somewhat more insidious. If you could shut down your power, maintaining my mental shields is somewhat taxing. I can keep up the effort but I'd prefer to speak as friends. We have no ill intentions, and crude remarks aside, my friend will be on his best behavior."

I glanced over at Penny, who gave a pensive nod, and then shut down my power. Ray took a small step closer as my hair settled back to its normal white. Ivan whistled "Wow, and I thought you were a cutie before, love the hair, and your face is so much prettier like that. But hey, where are my manners. Ivan Gerhardt at your most humble and efficacious service." He swept into a courtly bow, taking a step back and flourishing his wrist for effect.

Penny took a step forward, we weren't in costume, since we hadn't expected anything tocome through the door and sittin around in full gear while Penny takes hours inventing is annoying, but Penny was in her usual villain outfit, since those clothes were her inventing duds. She stuck out a hand, slipping her helmet off "Penelope Akk, nice to meet you." I gave a soft smile, of course Penny would do something like that, giving her identity away since ours were already compromised. She really was the best friend ever.

I stepped forward with a saucy smile at Ivan "Claire Lutra, a pleasure to meet you good sir." I stuck out a hand and Ivan scooped it up and kissed it. I felt my cheeks heat up at that, and knew Ray was going to torment me for weeks over the blush. With my power, it had been a while since a cute boy had paid me any kind of romantic attention, I had forgotten what it was like.

Ray shoved his way protectively between us and I grinned as he held out his hand to Ivan "Ray Viles, nice to meet you." Ivan took his hand and I saw Rays muscles tense as he undoubtedly sqeezed a bit harder than necessary. Ivan gave an amused smile and just stood there as Ray apparently piled on more and more pressure. Considering Ray could lift the front end of a small car, I expected Ivan to wince but he just stood there, amused at Rays antics.

Rays face started to turn red, and I suspect ivan was starting to squeeze back, when Wade reached out and slapped him in the back of the head. Oddly, Ivan seemed to not even notice the hit, but the sound of the smack made him scowl over at his friend, who glared until Ivan released Rays hand with a sniff. He looked away sulkily as Ray flexed his fingers and winced. Apparently Ivan was strong. Like really strong.

Wade stepped forward to offer his own hand to Penny. "Wade Wyatt, at your service miss. I take it from your safety gear you're something of an inventor? Always nice to meet a fellow scientist. I must thank you for your rescue. My friend and I had an unfortunate run in with some portal technology and ended up on another plane. We would've died in the hostile atmosphere if not for Ivans quick thinking and ability."

Unlike Ivans easy devil may care brusqueness, Wades speech was formal and intelligent, but unlike so many younger people who seem put on airs when speaking so politely, it fit Wade to a T. Going to a magnet school we knew quite a few very smart kids, ourselves most definitely included, but Wade just gave this inescapable feeling of mental excellence. Like he was the smartest person in the room and knew it, but not in an arrogant way. Where ivan had a smug gleam in his eyes, Wade gave off a disaffected air, like everyone else was irrelevant, so there was no reason to be cocky.

Ivan gave a carefree wave "He's not wrong. Genius or not, taking care of Wade is a full time job. His understanding of consequences sadly doesn't match up to his understanding of everything else. If I wasn't around to play common sense cricket he would've died in some lab accident years ago." Ray and I nodded, knowing very well how much of a pain it could be taking care fo a super genius.

Penny shot us both a glare when she saw the movement and took a step away from us both "So Wade you're super intelligent? You must be a really amazing inventor if your experiments create things that dangerous even by accident. I always say you can tell how smart a scientist is by the size of the fallout when they mess up." She gave a grin at that, showing she was partly joking, but Wade gave an answering smile and a laugh.

"Well said miss Akk, I'm one of the top five intellects on our world as far as I know." He walked a bit to the side and slumped down to sit, a chair appearing behind him as he fell. I looked over to see Ivan glaring as another flicker of red light went out on his fingers. Apparently Wade occasionally forgot what he was doing while he talked, from Ivans face, this wasn't the first time he'd had to summon a chair to catch his scatterbrained friend, and it wouldn't be the last. Wade looked around, unaware of the surprise from everyone who wasnt Ivan at the appearance of the overstuffed high backed red chair.

Ivan waved again and a couch appeared with two more chairs. I couldn't help notice the couch was behind the two of us and the chairs were behind Ray and Penny. I gave Ivan a wink and plopped down as he took a seat on the other end of the surprisingly comfortable sofa. Ivan picked up the thread of Wades wandering mind "Wade is a genius inventor and I dabble in magic, when we went through the portal we ended up in some hellhole and I put up some spells to keep us alive, but you guys saved our bacon. I cant do a dimensional portal, I was going to try to send up some kind of multidimensional signal flare but the chances of that getting to anyone who could help us were slim at best."

He gave us all a serious look "Look we have no way home but we've got more than enough skill to make sure we can live comfortably, if you guys can use that door to get us home we'd be grateful as hell and we could do you a solid before we go. If not well, we'll set up shop here and owe you one. We're good people to be owed a favor by. I personally don't have much tying me to our world, and Wade can rebuild his stockpile of resources, so I guess the big deciding factor in wether we even want to leave is…how strong can people on this world get?" Ivans face had a hungry smile at the question, and I could tell that things were going to get interesting around here.

 **Ok guys, on the changes, Wade and Ivan are just starting out and are best friends, they're fifteen. Some of their powers will be weaker than in canon for now, Wade's metasuits wont be as streamlined and Ivan isn't as versatile with magic. In terms of PDTMP this is right around the beginning of Henchmen. Marcia is out for the fight and everyone is just starting to trickle in to the club. Also I'd like to thank Lord Grise for your review. I'm only tangentially aware of Girl Genius but yes I suspect Penny and Agatha would get along well.**


	3. Blinded me with Science!

We sat and talked for a while, telling Wade and Ivan, or "Doctor Mechaniacal" and "Fornax" as they were known in villain circles about our world and how it worked. They both nodded when we brought up the rules about getting personal. Ivan chimed in "That's a smart way to run things, a super with nothing to lose and a grudge is a dangerous thing. Wade and I tend to work with similar constraints, though it isn't usually a courtesy people where we're from return." Aforementioned science boy was currently leaning in to talk to Penny with hushed excited whispers. Ray might have been jealous if it wasn't so obvious the boy was in love…with The Machine.

I decided to take the lead while my friend gushed about her baby "Well guys, I think I speak for all of us when I say we definitely want to help. That door doesn't appear to work more than once and rebuilding it is impossible. Wade can study it if you like and maybe figure out how it works but until then you guys can crash at the base, just a warning though, we have a club for kids with powers that meets here, and they don't know we're villains. Our other identities are a bit famous and we try to keep things under wraps. We're even looking for another base, since so many abandoned ones are sitting around LA."

Ivan nodded "Ok, well we don't exist here so I'm not worried about our other identities becoming known. If you guys have a source for abandoned bases maybe you could find us one too? We could pull a job for cash to pay you if you need it. We need a place to sleep and a lair is as good a place as any. Or hey, how about Wade and I rig up some defenses for you on your new lair. Between the two of use we can make some really tough protections."

Penny and Wade looked up, and Wade looked intrigued "Well, we would need resources, but I could definitely set something up. I could set up a spatial lock to jam teleportation and build in a camo system so that if anyone tried to scan for the base it would just look like empty ground. Ivan you could reinforce the materials and set up some interdictions to stop anyone who isn't invited from entering. I'm sure you have a few other wards that might be useful."

Pennys eyes went wide with excitement "That sounds amazing, I would love to have some defenses on the new base, I'll definitely check with our contacts in china tow- Wait! Why don't you guys come to china town with us! You're villains yourselves and we can introduce you around! Plus ivan can find someone to fight with if he wants, theres always brawls going on during the big party!"

Ray perked up for the first time with interest, having established that he was a villain too Ray had warmed up to Ivan a bit while they told us their story and we'd shared ours. No longer disliking our new guests to any real degree his natural super-geekery was coming to the forefront. I had to admit to a bit of excitement myself. If Ivan was stronger than Ray and could do magic to boot his powers must be amazing. I couldn't wait to see what kind of things he was capable of!

The excitement finally spread to the last member of our group as a fight was mentioned Ivans blue eyes lighting up with glee. "That sounds awesome! You guys are doing us a solid so I wont try to go too hard. Don't want to break one of your friends, but a good scrap is always welcome! When do you guys want to go?" It was funny to see the normally casual and acerbic Ivan bouncing up and down like a kid on Christmas and I couldn't help but grin at his enthusiasm. These guys were our kind of villains.

Penny smiled too and cut him off before he got too worked up "We actually cant go till Saturday. Chinatown doesn't become villain central until the weekend. We'll head over tomorrow night. In the meantime if Wade wants to start building a rep as a mad scientist he's going to need some parts. We still have a bunch of spare junk from my dads Junk bin, there might be some usable gear in there, but I don't have many tools on hand." She gave Wade an apologetic smile.

The green eyes boy just grinned, I always carry tools on me, don't worry about it, Ivan can help me with heating and shaping and things like that. Between what I have and him, as long as your dad has any decent electronics I can probably make something decent. I wont be able to do a metasuit or anything. But I can probably rig up some kind of laser cannon out of a DVD player or something. I've worked with less than a pile of scrap electronics."

Ivan shuddered at that "Remember the toaster possessing nano plague? I still have nightmares about those heating elemts trying to brand my face. I cant even be burned and that shit makes me shiver. I told you controlling a self replicating swarm of nano repair bots with an old gameboy color was a stupid idea. Make sure you have the parts for anything you're trying to make. Just because you can rig something up doesn't mean it wont try to kill us all."

Wade shot his friend an annoyed look "That was more than a year ago, I'm much wiser now! For one thing I know not to make anything self replicating. That became crystal clear after the blender attack." He turned to Penny "Now I would love to see this junk bin, and if you like you guys can watch us work. I'm quick with my hands and Ivan is a magical genius, watching us work is sure to be entertaining."

Before his friend or anyone else could cut in Penny leapt up and bolted for the storage closet we kept her dads old junk in, hurling the door open and gesturing inside for Wade to take a look "We would love to see you invent something! I'm always up for seeing other mad scientists work and I know Ray and Claire would love to see Ivans powers!"

Wade was at the door only second after she was and through it to dig through the parts seconds after that. Ivan walked sedately after him, still in a good mood at the prospect of a fight. Wade shot Penny a wide eyed stare as he sifted through parts "This is a junk bin!? Some of this gear is nearly functional! Who would throw this away? With this kind of volume and technology level I might actually be ABLE to build a metasuit. Probably the best model I've made so far! Oh and Ivans powers aren't as versatile as they sound, genius or not he's still learning magic, hes super strong and damn near invincible but other than that he only has a dozen or so spells."

Ivan didn't look offended and actually smiled encouragingly at his friend "he's not wrong and seriously Wade you have enough for a new suit? I'm guessing from your excitement some of this stuff is new even to you. I look forward to fighting whatever you build. Who knows maybe this one can take more than a single punch at one percent of my strength."

I expected Wade to look upset at the obvious taunt but instead he grinned excitedly at his friend and together they dove into the room. Ray and penny and walked back over to the chairs as Ivan picked up all the equipment that Wade pointed out and carried it into the middle of the main room of the lab, setting it down in an empty patch of room in the massive space. I couldn't help but be impressed by Ivans constant movement and strength, he was lifting things even Ray would struggle with in on hand and didn't appear to be tiring out anytime soon. Wade sat on the floor with a rolled up piece of fabric stretched out in front of him, every inch covered with pockets containing tools.

With barely and speaking between them Wade started to disassemble some of the smaller machines, cutting parts off with a small, white hot laser and melting parts together with a blow torch. He would occasionally gesture to Ivan and the other boy would grab a piece of metal and bend it into shape or pull it straight. Wade had a tape measure out and took quick measurements tossing the note pad to Ivan having sketched a few instructions as he worked. All in all their teamwork was brilliant. Ivan raised a hand to start weaving magic over the quickly forming suit but Wade gave a slashing gesture.

Clearly Wade wanted to make his own reputation with community to start with. After maybe two hours of shorthand and gestures and constant skilled motion Wade wiped his brow and stood up with an exhalation. Ivan gave the new suit a once over, an approving nod showing he agreed it was done. I looked over at Penny and Ray and they looked as flabbergasted as I was. Wade working looked a lot like Penny in a fugue state. Granted he didn't do as many crazy things that shouldn't be possible but his rate and surety of movement were at the same level as Pennys power.

Penny just stared for a minute and then started clapping. "That. Was. Amazing. I've never seen anyone do any work like that, I didn't recognize half of what you did, I mean my power understood the mechanics but I think our universe might not have discovered some of the machines you just put together. You are absolutely brilliant. Theres no way a suit like that isn't going to get you accepted as a mad scientist. Granted it looks like it's tier two but being able to reliably manufacture tier two and presumably recreate them is amazing.

Wade shook his head "It's not my best. I thought I was going to manage to outdo my most streamlined suit but I had to half ass the power source. Ivan is a decent substitute but my machining tools back home are much more precise. It limited my options, not to mention I had to route way too much of the power to the thrusters to make it flight capable. Once we have our own base and I can set up my lab, based on some of the things I've seen just in this pile and in your lab, I'm going to be able to make a suit that can take a punch from Ivan at three percent strength. This one wont even manage half a percent."

Ivan looked annoyed but nodded "I hate to say it but yeah, still if that's a proper estimate I'm incredibly excited. Three percent is the highest I can go right now without becoming unstable. You'd be able to fight me at my max! Anyway it's a solid effort and it'll more than establish your science chops. Leave the rest of our reputation to me. You worry about being the brain, I'll be the brawn." He turned to us with a grin. "So I can tell Wade is wiped from that and I've been holding life support spells for months, where can I conjure us some beds to sleep in? The faster I get to bed the faster I can wake up and it'll be our day to shine."

 **Hey everyone, I have another follower who even favorite the story thanks TorchwickofTorchwood! Next week we see the boys make their villainous debut in china town. I have big plans for them so I cant wait to see them all play out. Till next time, remember tell your friends, views and reviews make me write faster lol.**


	4. Saturday nights alright for fighting

The next morning saw all of us back at the base, eager to start the day. I'd gotten a call from Ivan, though from what phone and how he got my number I had no idea, telling us that despite the crowd being thinner earlier in the day the boys were ready to head down to Chinatown early to check out the competition before their big reveal. When we arrived we found Ivan sitting cross legged on one of the conjured chairs that were still there while Wade stood in the workshop frantically modifying his suit.

Every few seconds Wade would curse and hurl something over his shoulder and ivan would lazily flick his fingers and send whatever he had thrown spinning into a nearby box. He nodded amiably when he saw us come in and raised what appeared to be a cup of coffee he had somehow obtained to his lips before nodding to his frantic friend. "Sorry about the early departure but Wade gets jittery on a deadline. If we don't go down there early I'm afraid he's going to redesign himself into a coma. Normally when he gets this bad I just knock him out and let him sleep it off, but I'm honestly pretty jazzed myself so I don't want to wait."

I shared a sympathetic look with Ray, as we nodded to Ivan, commiserating about the annoyances of befriending a super powered science nerd. Ivan drained the cup and tossed it up in the air to be consumed by dark red flame before hopping off the chair and heading over to smack Wade in the back of the head. "Up and at em' rain man, we've got a rep to make. Your current design will have to do, so button it up and get changed."

Ignoring the casual displays of sorcery and our presence both Wade responds without even looking up "Damn, I got the power issues ironed out and managed to juice up the exoskeleton and the shields up to probably two percent of your strength, but I had to nerf the thrusters. I can only do short bursts and no too far off the ground. Good for dodges and lunge attacks but nothing like real flight." His nearly invisible hands stopped moving and he wiped his forehead with the back of a wrinkled sleeve, standing up and turning before starting at our presence. "Oh hello, is it sundown already? I thought I'd be hungrier. Or did I eat? Never mind, I'll be all suited up in just a tick."

The absentminded scientist darted out of the room, much to the amusement of his friend who turned back to us "As you can see he's very excited to go. Oh and speaking of exciting, you are a vision of loveliness today miss Lutra. Though having seen such radiance from you two days in a row I've come to suspect this transcendence is your natural state." Ivan flashed a charming smile and raised a hand to pluck a rose from the air. I probably would've made fun of him for the magical stereotype, if the rose hadn't been made of a spiraling cascade of red glowing runes.

I found myself enchanted in a hopefully figurative sense as I reached out to take the flower, only to squeak as it dissolved in my hands, the runes cascading down my arms and over my body to melt into my skin. I blinked in shock before glaring at Ivan. "What was that? What did that spell do?" I hadn't considered that the flower might hurt me, which was stupid, because we didn't really know either of these boys, and cute or not if Ivan had messed with my brain I was going to stomp him like a tap dancing vineyard worker on speed.

Ivan laughed and raised both hands in a placating gesture "Peace fair lady, no need for an upset. It was just a little token of my affection. You mentioned burglary before, so I thought you might like a bit of an assist. That little working was a few very useful spells I wove together as a gift. A charm that erases scent and any unintentional noises you make, a toggled invisibility enchantment I worked up, and an interesting little spell I made that allows relative gravity to act on you the same regardless of orientation in space. Wall walking and such. Just a sign of my esteem, and not permanent at all. I can remove it now or it'll wear off after three days. Spells like that don't stick around unless bound into a focus."

I stared at him for a minute and then…I actually blushed. Boys had been flirting with me since I started filling out a sweater in fifth grade, and plenty of them tried little trinkets or presents. Even some older boys and some awkwardly creepy grown men had tried flattering and wooing me. But no boy had ever given me a gift so suited to things I actually LIKED before. The fact that Ivan had put so much thought into making me a present that he thought I would actually enjoy made me feel…almost SHY. My mother could not be allowed to find out about this. She would never let me live it down.

I plastered a cocky smirk on my still red face, pretending not to be swooning a little at the thoughtful gift from one of the only cute boys in the world who didn't see an adorable bastion of cuteness when he looked at me. I felt my face heat up even more as I caught sight of my hair to find it glinting like spun gold, but ignored my slip in control, thankful that Ray and Penny would be much too muddled by my power to notice my embarrassment. "Well, I suppose if it was just a present I cant get too upset about it. But next time you should ask."

Ivan grinned knowingly at my flush "But if I do that I wont get to surprise you." He winked at me "And you're awfully pretty when you're flustered. Or existing." I rolled my eyes at his flirting, trying to ignore the annoying way my mouth was quirking up in a pleased smirk, only to be saved by a clanking suit of powered armor stepping through the door. We all gaped in shock, Wade's suit was…amazing. I had expected since it was made from scraps and spare parts it would look rough and unfinished, but somehow the whole aesthetic pulled together into a sort of steam punk battle suit.

Ivan gave a low whistle "Damn Doc, I hope you built a stick into that thing, because you're going to need to beat the nerd girls off of you with it. I take it from the swagger that everything is functional to the best of your knowledge? If you make us look like idiots during our big debut I'm gonna put my foot so far up your ass I'll leave boot prints on the top of your skull." Despite his threatening words though, Ivans eyes seemed to gleam with anticipation of the days events, not worrying at all about his friends abilities.

Wades faceplate slid up and he grinned at Ivan, the manic scatterbrained boy replaced with a calm confident super villain "Don't you worry about a thing, Nax. By the time tonight is over, no one in this new world will be able to claim not to know who we are. Now," he said, turning to face us "how about we all head out to this party of yours. I'm quite anxious to make my entrance." And honestly, between him and Ivan, I wasn't sure whose grin scared me more.

It didn't take us long to get to Chinatown. We decided to take the red line instead of Pennys bike or bracers. As per usual in LA, the sight of a group of teenaged super villains in costume seemed to bother no one. Ivan was still wearing the same ragged black hoody and cargo pants, but somehow the shadows of the hood had grown deeper and his face had been swallowed in darkness. Looking at him was like looking into a bottomless chasm, with the exception of two floating red runes where his eyes should be. The end result was somewhat creepy and more than a little terrifying, but it certainly made an impression.

We arrived in China town around two P.M. Despite setup having been done the night before some of the later arrivals were still putting together their booths while the other customers browsed, being a Villain party, Chinatown really heated up when the sun went down soothe crowd was thinner than it could've been, but things were still already pretty lively. I watched Ivan- erm Fornax's hood track back and forth taking everything in as …Doctor Mechaniacal walked smoothly across the street towards the mad science tables.

I started after a second realizing we had lost Fornax, but shook it off in favor of watching the newest mad scientist in the world make his bones. How often do you get to see a world class intellect in a new world. Lab Rat scurried forward to meet us as Penny and Doc drifted ahead of Ray and I. "Bad Penny! New scientist! Tasty, tasty! Such a tasty design, yes, but missing goggles!"

Penny grinned at Wade and then down at Lab Rat "Well he isn't official yet, Lab Rat, so we figured we would wait and get him his first pair as a celebratory thing. So you think everyone will accept him? I think his inventions are amazing and I bet the others are going to love the stuff he came up with." My friend was excited and grinning talking about her new nerd buddy and his gadgets.

A calm collected voice that I recognized as my sometimes dinner companion The Expert broke in as she finished talking "I don't see why we wouldn't, assuming he built that himself I'm very interested in its capabilities. Meta-suits are a common enough theme for mad science, but they aren't so run of the mill as to cease being impressive. A basic rundown of his capabilities and maybe a demonstration would be sure to gain him entry to our humble circle, assuming the suit works without incident."

Penny grinned and was presumably about to volunteer our new friend for just such a showing when a high pitched squeal split the street, followed by a loud explosion. Despite Chinatowns weirdness, that was enough to get even this crowd to spin around for a look, and what we saw made very single jaw drop, including mine. Ivan was standing in the middle of the road, hood down but eyes still burning with red runes on a pitch black background.

Across from him, her already skimpy clothes blasted away in places to the point of outright indecency, was a wide eyed and smiling Lucyfar. Her eyes were fixed adoringly on Ivan who was glaring daggers at her and slowly backing away. With a flash of black Lucy shot forward toward our new friend and…glomped him. Ivans head was seized and yanked forward into Lucys pale and exceptionally large breasts, which were mostly uncovered by this point.

Before I could even raise an eyebrow, Ivans fist rocketed out of nowhere and smashed Lucy into the ground, teleporting away as soon as they were no longer in contact. "Listen you crazy bitch, I keep telling you, I am NOT your brother! You have a pretty nice rack, but the overwhelming Yandere bro-con thing is kind of killing the appeal! I don't know you! We aren't related! I'm drawing a firm line in the sand about this little brother thing if you're going to keep mashing my face into your tits!"

Lucy just shrugged and grinned "Firstly, you are my brother! Cant you sense it? How our powers resonate? Come on Leviathan, come give big sister a hug! Don't worry about me being topless, I'm already dating one of my brothers, its not weird when we're angels, theres no risk of inbreeding!" She squealed and dove forward again, her top having long since given way and her ahem assets, bouncing as she dove.

Ivan vanished from in front of her appearing behind me "Jesus, Claire please save me! This crazy bitch thinks Im her brother, which apparently doesn't preclude sexually harassing me!" He turned his glare back on Lucy "Also, if you insist on claiming me as a little brother, I'm one hundred percent not up for any sort of breeding, regardless of type!" I winced at that statement because I knew Lucy was just going to hear-

Her squeal split the air as shadows flowed up over her body, constricting into a pair of pants and a crop top. "You DO know me! I knew you could feel our bond! I was just kidding about the inbreeding thing, I'm seeing someone, but if you and Lutra Lite over there want to give me some sexy celestial nieces and nephews I would be a great Auntie!" Her lurid wink at him standing behind me made even my Lutra shamelessness evaporate in a raging inferno of embarrassment. I glared over at Lucy, feeling Ivan cower behind me. Well these two certainly fit in around here, only supervillains could make things go this crazy within ten minutes of arrival.

 **Ok guys hope you like this one, I was planning to have Lucy semi-adopt Ivan from the beginning. We've seen via Gabriel Lucy lives in her own world and isn't above just deciding someone is a family member, nor dating them after making that decision. Ivan at his current level isn't a match for a fallen angel, at least not without snapping and wiping out half a continent in the ensuing battle. Remember reviews make writing easier, hope to hear from you guys.**


	5. Witchy woman

**Ivan POV**

Hiding behind Claire wasn't an altogether unpleasant experience, and despite the overwhelming magical force rolling off the psychotic infernal bikini model trying to smother me with her tits, I had to take a second to reboot my brain as my gaze drifted down to the girls rather shapely backside under the incredibly short bottoms of her extremely flattering cat costume. I shook my head to clear it and glared back over her shoulder at the scantily clad self proclaimed demoness. To be entirely honest I actually did feel a strange resonance between our magics.

The power rolling of her stunk of black magic and chaos, though in a somewhat more bubbly and effervescent way than my own. I got the feeling her powers pushed her more toward mischief than my own murderous gifts. Yay for her. The intense reaction was disturbing to say the least especially with the source of my powers being what it was. Claire cleared throat loudly, her cheeks still red from the crazy womans ranting.

"Lucy, we were just about to take our new friends here down to meet with Spider, I'm sure Ivan would be thrilled to have a conversation with you another time." I was so tense I almost missed Claires hair shifting from white platinum to twenty four carat gold as it curled up into ringlets on here shoulders. Crazy witch lady looked a little punch drunk from the effect, swaying slightly as she smiled at Claire and nodded to her, before happily tottering away.

I looked at Claire with a bit of trepidation, having just fought "Lucy" I knew how strong she was, to be able to bend someone like that to her will with a cute smile and a flutter of her lashes was downright terrifying. Thank god her ability didn't work on me, probably the only real benefit to having the incoherent ghost of an angry chaos god living inside my soul. Well, that and the metabolism. I could eat an entire food truck and not gain an ounce. It made Wade unspeakably jealous.

Claire flashed me that brilliant butterfly inducing grin, her hair back to its normal bone white, and grabbed my hand, dragging me away from the slowly dispersing crowd of supervillains. She smirked at the look on my now visible face as she cooed "Oh poor baby, did the mean devil lady scare you? Don't worry, I'll keep her away from you." Her face smoothed into a serious, almost nervous expression "Besides I wasn't lying, Spider wants to meet with you. Lucy is a bit off the wall but even she doesn't get in the way when the big boss wants something."

Her steps faltered as she pulled me toward a nearby building off to the side of the many tables stacked high with weapons and various evil knick knacks. I pulled her to a complete stop by the hand she was using to drag me, looking into her now worried eyes. "Hey, whats up? I've only known you a few days but you don't strike me as a nail biter. Whats got you so antsy about this Spider guy? " Claires face had actually gone pale, and she was slightly shaking, her eyes flicking to either side unconsciously as if she was afraid of being overheard. This was actually starting to worry me a bit, why was she reacting like this?

Claire grabbed my hands without thinking, staring straight into my eyes to drive home how serious she was "Spider…she's not what you're expecting, and she isn't someone to be underestimated. Spider is dangerous, and she keeps iron control over all the supervillains for a reason. Just, please don't antagonize her. A few days or not I know you well enough to know your immediate reaction to what you see as condescension is be as belligerent as possible. Promise me you wont start trouble here, because even if you're strong enough to walk out of this place regardless of trouble, Ray and Penny and I have families involved in this world, and if you break the rules and drag us into it, things could get really bad."

I squeezed both hands in mine and smiled reassuringly "Relax Claire-bear, I'm house broken, if you don't want me to throw a hissy fit I'll be good, unless Spider straight up attacks me I can grin and bear it. Or attacks, Wade, or you, or I mean I guess Ray or Penny or just in general if an attack goes down-" Claire giggled and put a finger to my lips to stop my embarrassed rambling attempt to cover up the fact that I was worried about her. Before I could react she replaced her finger with her lips and gave me a quick peck before smiling brightly at me, dropping my hands, and skipping off toward the building she had been leading us to.

I stood there, gobsmacked and slightly confused and managed to stop my hand before I touched my lips in wonderment like a stupid rom com protagonist, something that if noticed I would never live down, and smiled slowly. I think that might have been worth a few minutes of annoyance when I dealt with the crime queen of LA. I licked my lips as I followed the mystifying girl I was starting to grow more and more fond of. She must have been wearing lip gloss or something because I tasted strawberries.

By the time we arrived at the stair case leading down into the underground parking garage Claires easy going mask was back in place. Apparently once I'd agreed not to make a scene there was nothing else to say. Personally I would've loved some kind of warning or preparation for whatever caused that little melt down but apparently wishes were not horses today. Claire stopped at the bottom of the steps and gave me an apologetic look "I cant go in with you. It's…too much for me. I'll wait here for you. I don't know why she didn't ask to meet Wade too but her text only mentioned you, so once you're done introducing yourself your team should be considered full fledged super villains. Good luck Ivan, and be safe ok?"

I gave her my usual cocky grin and pushed through the door into the darkened garage, I only took about four steps before I stopped. I closed my eyes and inhaled trying to figure out the exact magical profile of whatever I was sensing. The being I could feel felt similar to me, but in a much different way than Lucy had. Lucy stank of chaos magic, her power a brighter, more manic version of my own, but this things power was completely different. No the similarity wasn't in the power signature but in the form it took. I could feel dark forces, restrained by a slowly fraying will. I sensed a mind unraveling, cracking under the unnatural weight of a being whose very conceptual existence was anathema to this world.

The being was weaker than I was, limited and small in some ways, and much greater than myself in other ways, ways that had nothing to do with raw power. I opened my eyes, knowing the sclera were a bottomless pit of black falling away from runes of angry sickening red, and looked to one side, right at the place where I knew I'd see something I really didn't want to look at. To anyone else she probably looked like a normal girl, albeit a strange one curled up in a ball and muttering to herself. I could see her for real though, see the inside, where the thing she played host to dug in its claws, desperate to keep a grip on its only access to this world.

It looked intelligent, which was very bad, but not necessarily malevolent which was potentially good. The being opened its eyes and stared at me from inside its slowly dying meat suit and when it spoke, I knew it was the girls voice. "Why do you come to our dwelling, great one? Why do you seek us in our safest place? We see your power, we see your hunger and your hate, do you wish to consume us, to add us to your power as you did the force that dwells beneath your skin? We do not wish to be consumed, we do not wish to cease this existence, we are not your equal, but this is our place, it would not be so easy to take us here, in the heart of our power, not even for one such as you."

I glared at the thing, and I could feel its fear and helpless rage as it dove to the back of the girls mind, desperately and futilely trying to hide from my gaze. I was angry. I knew what it was like to fight every second for control of your own skin, to rage against an implacable monster that never stopped. I mostly won my fights, and I had grown used to the battle, but that didn't mean I didn't hate myself a little every day for the ritual I had performed to gain my powers. "I do not wish to dirty myself by ingesting a speck such as you. You may remain but your attempts to subvert your host will end. The owner of that body will assume primary control. Work out a partnership if you think you can manage but I want to see the damage youre doing to that girls soul gone the next time I meet you, or I'll show you what its like to have your essence ripped apart by something bigger and more horrible than you."

I could tell the thing was angry at the order, I felt its resentment, it had been close to full possession and now it had to surrender everything it had accomplished with a few words from me. In the end though it didn't matter, the thing was ancient, and the few years the girl would live were nothing compared to the millennia it stood to lose if fed to the Dark inside me. With a hiss of frustrated anger the things claws released and the girl slumped to the ground like they had been the only thing keeping her bones solid. I shook my head in pity, but that wasn't why I was here, I stepped over the prone form of the unfortunate demon bike and strolled up to the giant web I had seen behind her as we talked.

The elephant size spider hanging in the web may have scared someone else, but I had seen so much worse. I could see why Claire was so unnerved by this thing though, it warped reality around it slightly, not enough to do anything really scary but you could feel that this giant arachnid was against the natural order and I imagined people with mental abilities probably picked up the distortion more strongly, since I could feel the telepathic undercurrents in the things signature. After the thing with the girl I didn't feel like dealing with pleasantries though, so I dispensed with the formalities. I looked it dead in the eyes and said in my best conversational tone "Spider seems a bit on the nose for you, doesn't it?"

 **Hey guys king here, been ages I know, I've been working on my book, this particular story was somewhat calling to me. Any readers id appreciate if you could mention this to your friends, this category is incredibly small and obscure and more readers would help motivation a ton. Hope you enjoy the chapter and look forward to seeing your reviews.**


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